Wenlock Priory

52°35′51″N 2°33′18″W / 52.59739°N 2.55506°W / 52.59739; -2.55506

The west end of the Priory Church, with a remnant of the north transept at left

Wenlock Priory, or St Milburga's Priory, is a ruined 12th-century monastery, located in Much Wenlock, Shropshire, at grid reference SJ625001. Roger de Montgomery re-founded the Priory as a Cluniac house between 1079 and 1082, on the site of an earlier 7th-century monastery.[1] In 1101 bones, believed to be those of Saint Milburga, were discovered beneath the floor of the old church. The relics were ceremoniously translated to the main monastery church.[2][3]

Parts of the building became a house later known as "Wenlock Abbey", which is privately owned, but most of Wenlock Priory is open to the public under the care of English Heritage and is used mostly for recreational purposes. The grounds have a collection of topiary;[4] the gardens are listed Grade II in Historic England's Register of Parks and Gardens.[5]

  1. ^ Angold, M.J.; Baugh, G.C.; Chibnall, Marjorie M.; Cox, D.C.; Price, D.T.W.; Tomlinson, Margaret; Trinder, B.S. (1973). "Houses of Cluniac monks: Abbey, later Priory, of Wenlock". In Gaydon, A.T.; Pugh, R.B. (eds.). A History of the County of Shropshire: Volume 2. London: British History Online. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  2. ^ Edwards, A.J.M. (1961). "An early twelfth-century account of the translation of St Milburga of Much Wenlock" (PDF). Trans Shropshire Archaeol Soc. 57: 134–151.
  3. ^ Hayward, Paul Antony (1999). "The Miracula Inventionis Beate Mylburge Virginis Attributed to the Lord Ato, Cardinal Bishop of Ostia". The English Historical Review. 114 (457): 513–573. doi:10.1093/ehr/114.457.543. JSTOR 580382.
  4. ^ English Heritage website, Facilities at Wenlock Priory retrieved 13 February 2018
  5. ^ Historic England. "Wenlock Abbey (1001135)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 August 2023.